Heracles
In Greek mythology, Heracles (Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, Herakles) was a mortal son of Zeus and Alcmene. He was the greatest of all heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of many royal clans, and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. After his deification, Heracles became the gatekeeper of Olympus and the god of strength, heroes, sports, and athletes. His sacred symbols include a lion, a club, and a bow and arrows. In Roman mythology, Heracles is equated with Hercules. Mythology Birth When Alcmene was about to give birth to Heracles, Zeus announced to all the gods that on that day a child of Zeus would be born and rule all those around him. Hera, after requesting Zeus to swear an oath to that effect, descended from Olympus to Argos and made the wife of Sthenelus give birth to Eurystheus after only seven months while, at the same time, preventing Alcmene from delivering Heracles. This resulted in the fulfillment of Zeus' oath in that it was Eurystheus rather than Heracles. In order to prevent Heracles' birth, Hera forbade Eileithyia to allow Alcmene to give birth. She went to where Alcmene was trying to give birth and kept her arms crossed, not allowing the birth to occur. Galanthis, a maid of Alcmene who was nearby, observed Eileithyia's behavior and quickly deduced that it was Hera's doing. To put an end to Alcmene's suffering, she announced that Alcmene had safely delivered her child, which surprised Eileithyia so much that she immediately jumped up and uncrossed her arms. As soon as Eileithyia leapt up, Alcmene was released from her spell and gave birth to Heracles. As punishment for deceiving Eileithyia, Galanthis was transformed into a polecat. Fear of Hera's revenge led Alcmene to expose the infant Heracles, but he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena, who played an important role as protectress of heroes. Hera did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain and she pushed him away. With the divine milk, Heracles had acquired great strength. Athena brought the infant back to his mother and he was raised by Alcmene and Amphitryon. Heracles was originally given the name Alcides by his parents. He was renamed Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera. Heracles and his "twin" (Iphicles was born at the same time as Heracles but was the son of Alcmene and Amphitryon) were just eight months old when Hera sent two snakes into their chamber. Heracles grabbed the snakes in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with their dead bodies as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias, who prophecied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would slay many monsters. Marriage Later in his life in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon's daughter Megara. In a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles killed his children by Megara. After his madness was cured, he realized what he had done and fled to the Oracle of Delphi. Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by Hera. He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for ten years and perform any task Eurystheus required of him. On the advice of Hera, Eurystheus gave Heracles ten labors, but after completing them, Heracles was cheated by Eurystheus when he added two more, resulting in the twelve labors of Heracles. Labors of Heracles Driven mad by Hera, Heracles slew his own children. To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to carry out ten labors set up by Eurystheus, who had become king in Heracles' place. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and would be granted immortality. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labor. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean hydra as Heracles' nephew, Iolaus, had helped him burn the stumps of the heads. Eurystheus set two more tasks, which Heracles performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve. His twelve tasks were as follows: #Slay the Nemean lion #Slay the nine-headed Lernaean hydra #Capture the Cerynitian hind #Capture the Erymanthian boar #Clean the Augean stables in a single day #Slay the Stymphalian birds #Capture the Cretan bull #Steal the Horses of Diomedes #Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta #Obtain the cattle of Geryon #Steal the apples of the Hesperides #Capture Cerberus Omphale After completing these tasks, Heracles joined the Argonauts in a search for the golden fleece. He also fell in love with Princess Iole of Oechalia. King Eurytus of Oechalia promised his daughter, Iole, to whoever could beat his sons in an archery contest. Heracles won but Eurytus abandoned his promise. Heracles' advances were spurned by the king and his sons, except for one: Iole's brother Iphitus. Heracles killed the kings and his sons, excluding Iphitus, and abducted Iole. Iphitus became Heracles' best friend. However, once again, Hera drove Heracles mad, again, and threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death. Once again, Heracles purified himself through three years of servitude to Queen Omphale of Lydia. Heracles was forced to do women's work and to wear women's clothes, while Omphale wore the skin of the Nemean lion and carreid his olive-wood club. After some time, Omphale freed Heracles and married him. It was at this time that the Kerkopes, mischievous wood spirits, stole Heracles' weapons. He punished them by tying them to a stick with their faces pointing downward. Hylas While walking through the wilderness, Heracles was set upon by the Dryopes. Heracles had mercilessly slain their king, Theiodamas, over one of the latter's bulls and made war upon the Dryopes because they gave no heed to justice in their lives. After the death of their king, the Dryopes gave in and offered him Prince Hylas. He took the youth on as his weapons bearer and beloved. Years later, Heracles and Hylas joined the crew of the Argo. As Argonauts, they only participated in part of the journey. In Mysia, Hylas was kidnapped by the nymphs of a local spring. Heartbroken, Heracles searched for a long time but Hylas had fallen in love with the nymphs and never showed up again. Prometheus Heracles shot and killed the Caucasian eagle as it was torturing Prometheus, which was his punishment by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Heracles freed the Titan from his chains and his torments. Prometheus then made predictions regarding further deeds of Heracles. Heracles' constellation On his way back to Mycenae from Iberia having obtained the cattle of Geryon, Heracles came to Liguria in Italy where he engaged in battle with two giants, Albion and Bergion, son of Poseidon. The giants were strong; Heracles was in a difficult position so he prayed to Zeus for help. With the assistance of Zeus, Heracles won the battle. It was this kneeling position of Heracles when he prayed to his father that gave the name Engonasin, meaning "on his knees" or "the Kneeler", to the constellation known as Heracles' constellation. Heracles' sack of Troy Before the Trojan War, Heracles had made an expedition to Troy and sacked it. Previously, Poseidon had sent a sea monster to attack Troy. Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles happened to arrive and agreed to kill the monster if Laomedon would give the horses received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus' kidnapping Ganymede. Laomedon agreed; Heracles killed the monster but Laomedon went back on his word. Accordingly, Heracles and his followers attacked Troy and sacked it. Then they killed all of Laomedon's sons, except for Priam. Scythian dracaena After carrying away the oxen of Geryon, Heracles also visited the country of the Scythians. Once there, his horses suddenly disappeared while asleep. When he woke and wandered in search of them, he came into the country of Hylaea. He then found the dracaena of Scythia in a cave. When he asked whether she knew anything about his horses, she answered that they were in her possession but that she would not give them up unless he would have sex with her. Heracles accepted the request and became the father of Agathyrsus, Gelonus, and Scythes. Other adventures *Heracles defeated the Bebryces and gave their land to Prince Lycus of Mysia, son of Dascylus. *He killed the robber Termerus. *Heracles visited Evander with Antor, who then stayed in Italy. *Heracles killed King Amyntor of the Dolopes for not allowing him to visit his kingdom. He also killed King Emathion of Arabia. *Heracles killed Lityerses after beating him in a contest of harvesting. *Heracles killed Periclymenus at Pylos. *Heracles killed Syleus for forcing strangers to hoe a vineyard. *Heracles rivaled with Lepreus and eventually killed him. *Heracles founded the city Tarentum. *Heracles learned music from Linus and Eumolpus, but killed Linus after he corrected his mistakes. He learned how to wrestle from Autolycus. He killed the famous boxer Eryx of Sicily in a boxing match. *Heracles was an Argonaut. He killed Alastor and his brothers. *When Hippocoon overthrew his brother, Tyndareus, as King of Sparta, Heracles resisted the rightful ruler nad killed Hippocoon and his sons. *Heracles killed Cycnus, a son of Ares. *Heracles killed Alcyoneus and Porphyrion. *Heracles killed Antaeus by picking him up and holding him in the air while strangling him. *Heralces went to war with Augeas after he denied him a promised reward for cleaning his stables. Augeas remained undefeated due to the skill of his two generals and after Heracles fell ill, his army was badly beaten. Later, Heracles was able to defeat Augeas and his generals. *Heracles visited the house of Admetus on the day Admetus' wife, Alcestis, had agreed to die in his place. By hiding beside the grave of Alcestis, Heracles was able to surprise Thanatos when he came to collect her and, by squeezing him until he relented, was able to persuade Thanatos to return Alcestis to her husband. *Heracles challenged Dionysus to a drinking contest and lost, resulting in his joinging the Thiasus for a period. *Heracles aided Dionysus in his trip to the Underworld by telling him how to get into the Underworld, other than by dying. Death Having wrestled and defeated Achelous, Heracles took Deianira as his wife. Travelling to Tiryns, a centaur, Nessus, offered to help Deianira across a fast-flowing river while Heracles swam it. However, Nessus was a mischievous centaur and tried to steal Deianira away while Heracles was in the water. Angry, Heracles shot him with poisoned arrows. Thinking of revenge, Nessus gave Deianira his blood-soaked tunic before dying, telling her it would excite the love of Heracles. Several years later, Deinaira believed that Heracles was falling out of love with her so, remembering Nessus' words, gave Heracles the blood-stained shirt. Lichas, the herald, delivered the shirt to Heracles. The shirt, however, tore his skin and exposed his bones. Before he died, Heracles threw Lichas into the sea, thinking he was the one who poisoned him. Heracles then uprooted several trees and built a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta, which Poeas lit. As his body burnt, only his immortal side was left and he rose to Olympus as an immortal being. Family Heracles was married four times in his life to four different women: Megara, Omphale, Deianira, and Hebe. He had many affairs and many children: Category:Greek mythology Category:Greek mortals Category:Greek demigods Category:Greek deities Category:Greek gods